Monday

Mar 26, 2012 at 6:34 PM

Covering the 26.2 miles of a marathon isn't easy.

For first time marathoners the distance - and the day's threat of severe weather - could have melted their reserve, but the more than 40 people who trained with WoW! Project Marathon ran the full distance for the Albany Marathon in early March, said founder April Williams.

"Everybody was like, 'I don't care what the weather is, we're going to do it'," she said. Team WoW! members had a great time and two runners qualified for the 2013 Boston Marathon. Williams runs the popular WoW! (Workout Warriors) Boot Camps in the Athens area, and decided to offer marathon training to her regular boot camp participants a few months ago, she said.

"Low and behold, lots of people were excited about it because they loved the idea about combining the boot camp and training run," Williams said. Williams' husband, Michael Williams, designed a marathon training schedule that slowly increased the runners' distances, she said.

"It was a very conservative plan, built around injury prevention," she said. "We never want anybody to get hurt and with that distance, you have to be super careful."

Fourty-four Athens-area residents trained together from all of the Boot Camp's different programs, she said.

"On Saturdays, everybody would come together and a route would be planned for everybody," she said.

Some runners formed special bonds during training, including the "A Team," eight women - ranging in age from early 20s to 61 years old - who were dedicated to running the marathon together.

"They laughed a lot," Williams said. "(They were a) full spectrum of women, but they had that common goal in mind."

The marathon and training were such a success that Williams has decided to offer a triathlon training option as well, she said. Participants will learn to run, swim and bike for a few months, building up their endurance, before they enter a triathlon.

Marathoners in the WoW! program will run in the Athens Half-Marathon and Williams is thinking about other possible marathon opportunities.